Glossary

A

Avalanche photodiode

An avalanche photodiode (APD) is a highly sensitive semiconductor photodiode that exploits the photoelectric effect to convert light into electricity.

AutoGrid

An AutoGrid holds a TEM grid to provide mechanical stability

B

Backscatter

In physics, backscatter (or backscattering) is the reflection of waves, particles, or signals back to the direction from which they came.

C

Cancer research

Cancer research is research into cancer to identify its causes and develop strategies for prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and cure.

Cathodoluminescence

Cathodoluminescence (CL) is light or electromagnetic radiation ranging from the ultraviolet (UV) to the near-infrared (NIR) regime of the electromagnetic spectrum, which is generated by fast electrons (cathode rays) impinging on a material, exciting it and subsequently causing it to radiate as it returns to the ground state.

Cell biology

Cell biology is a branch of biology that studies the structure and function of the cell

Cementation

Cementation in geology is the process of deposition of dissolved mineral components in the interstices of sediments

Chronological dating

Chronological dating, or simply dating, is the process of attributing to an object or event a date in the past, allowing such object or event to be located in a previously established chronology.

CLEM

Correlative light-electron microscopy (CLEM) is the combination of optical (usually fluorescence) and electron microscopy

Compound semiconductor

A compound semiconductor is a semiconductor compound composed of chemical elements of at least two different species.

Cryo-FIB lift-out

In this method, a focused beam of ions is used to remove material around a region of interest, forming lamella. The lamella is then extracted from the bulk sample, transferred to a TEM grid with a nanomanipulator or gripper, and subsequently thinned to 100-300 nm.

Cryo-Fluorescent Light Microscope (Cryo-FLM)

A fluorescent microscope that works under cryogenic conditions

Cryogenic Electron Microscopy  (Cryo-EM)

Cryogenic Electron Microscopy (cryo-EM) is an electron microscopy (EM) technique applied on samples cooled to cryogenic temperatures.

Cryogenic electron tomography (Cryo-ET)

Cryogenic electron tomography (cryo-ET) is an imaging technique used to produce high-resolution (~1-4 nm) three-dimensional views of samples, typically biological macromolecules and cells at cryogenic temperatures.

Cryogenic Temperatures

The cryogenic temperature range has been defined as from −150 °C to absolute zero (−273 °C). The temperature at which molecular motion comes as close as theoretically possible to zero. 

Crystal

A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituents (such as atoms, molecules, or ions) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a crystal lattice that extends in all directions.

Crystal growth

Crystal growth is the process where a pre-existing crystal becomes larger as more growth units (e.g. molecules, ions) add in their positions in the crystal lattice or a solution is developed into a crystal and further growth is processed.

D

Dispersion

In optics, dispersion is the phenomenon in which the phase velocity of a wave depends on its frequency.

E

Electron excitation

Electron excitation is the transfer of a bound electron to a more energetic, but still bound state.

Electron microscope

An electron microscope is a microscope that uses a beam of accelerated electrons as a source of illumination.

Electron Tomography (ET)

Electron tomography is a technique for obtaining detailed 3D structures of subcellular macro-molecular objects.

Electromagnetic metasurface

An electromagnetic metasurface refers to a kind of artificial sheet material with sub-wavelength thickness. Metasurfaces can be either structured or unstructured with subwavelength-scaled patterns in the horizontal dimensions

F

Focused ion beam (FIB)

A focused ion beam, also known as FIB, is used in the semiconductor industry, materials science and increasingly in the biological field for site-specific analysis, deposition, and ablation of materials.

FIB Milling

FIB milling can be used to prepare thin, electron transparent samples for imaging with a transmission electron microscope (TEM).

Fluorescence microscope

A fluorescence microscope is an optical microscope that uses fluorescence and phosphorescence instead of, or in addition to, scattering, reflection, and attenuation or absorption, to study the properties of organic or inorganic substances.

Fluorescent label

In molecular biology and biotechnology, a fluorescent tag, also known as a fluorescent label or fluorescent probe, is a molecule that is attached chemically to aid in the detection of a biomolecule such as a protein, antibody, or amino acid.

G

Gallium nitride

Gallium nitride (GaN) is a binary III/V direct bandgap semiconductor commonly used in light-emitting diodes since the 1990s.

Gemstone

A gemstone (also called a gem, fine gem, jewel, precious stone, or semi-precious stone) is a piece of mineral crystal which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments.

Geology

Geology is an earth science concerned with the solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time.

Giant virus

A giant virus, also known as a girus, is a very large virus, some of which are larger than typical bacteria.

Granular material

A granular material is a conglomeration of discrete solid, macroscopic particles characterized by a loss of energy whenever the particles interact (the most common example would be friction when grains collide).

H

High Pressure Freezing (HPF)

High pressure freezing (HPF) is a cryofixation method which helps prevent the formation of large ice crystals by simultaneously exposing samples to a very high pressure (2100 bar).

Hyperspectral imaging

Hyperspectral imaging, like other spectral imaging, collects and processes information from across the electromagnetic spectrum.

I

Integrated CLEM

The integrated CLEM by Delmic integrates light and electron microscopy in one device to perform correlative light and electron microscopy without the need for sample transfer.

Intensity mapping

In CL imaging, intensity mapping is the surveying of a large area of a material by using the total CL emission intensity from every pixel exposed to the electron beam.

L

Lamella

A lamella refers to a thin electron transparent section of the sample. 

M

Marine microbiology

Marine microbiology is the study of the microorganisms (bacteria, archaea, viruses and microbial eukaryotes) in the marine environment, including their biodiversity, ecology and biogeochemistry.

Mass spectrometry

Mass spectrometry (MS) is an analytical technique that measures the mass-to-charge ratio of ions.

Materials science

The interdisciplinary field of materials science, also commonly termed materials science and engineering, is the design and discovery of new materials, particularly solids.

Metamorphic rocks

Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock types, in a process called metamorphism, which means "change in form"

Molecule

A molecule is an electrically neutral group of two or more atoms held together by chemical bonds.

N

 Nanoscale antenna

A nanoscale antenna-like structure for sending and transmitting electromagnetic waves.

Nanophotonics

Nanophotonics is the study of the behavior of light on the nanometer scale, and of the interaction of nanometer-scale objects with light.

Nanostructure

A nanostructure is a structure of intermediate size between microscopic and molecular structures. Nanostructural detail is microstructure viewed at the nanoscale.

Neuroscience

Neuroscience (or neurobiology) is the scientific study of the nervous system. It is a multidisciplinary branch of biology that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, developmental biology, cytology, mathematical modeling, and psychology to understand the fundamental and emergent properties of neurons and neural circuits.

Nanowire

A nanowire is a nanostructure, with the diameter of the order of several nanometers (10−9 meters).

P

Perovskite solar cell

A perovskite solar cell (PSC) is a type of solar cell which includes a perovskite structured compound, most commonly a hybrid organic-inorganic lead or tin halide-based material, as the light-harvesting active layer.

Photomultiplier tube

Photomultiplier tubes (photomultipliers or PMTs for short), members of the class of vacuum tubes, and more specifically vacuum phototubes, are extremely sensitive detectors of light in the ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Photonic crystal

A photonic crystal is a periodic optical nanostructure that affects the motion of photons in much the same way that ionic lattices affect electrons in solids.

Photovoltaics

Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry.

Plasmon

In physics, a plasmon is a quantum of plasma oscillation. Just as light (an optical oscillation) consists of photons, the plasma oscillation consists of plasmons.

Plunge Freezing

Plunge Freezing is a method which involves ultra-rapid cooling of small tissue or cell samples to the temperature of liquid nitrogen (−196 °C) or below, stopping all motion and metabolic activity and preserving the internal structure. 

Polarization

 Polarization is a property applying to transverse waves that specifies the geometrical orientation of the oscillations. In a transverse wave, the direction of oscillation is perpendicular to the direction of propagation of the wave.

Q

Quartz

Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silicon and oxygen atoms.

R

Radiometric dating

Radiometric dating, radioactive dating or radioisotope dating is a technique which is used to date materials such as rocks or carbon, in which trace radioactive impurities were selectively incorporated when they were formed.

Rare-earth mineral

A rare-earth mineral contains one or more rare-earth elements as major metal constituents.

Region of interest

A region of interest (often abbreviated ROI),  is a portion of the image containing a feature to be measured

S

Scanning electron microscope (SEM)

A scanning electron microscope produces images of a sample by scanning the surface with a focused beam of electrons.

Sedimentary rock

Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of small particles and subsequent cementation of mineral or organic particles on the floor of oceans or other bodies of water at the Earth's surface.

Semiconductor

A semiconductor material has an electrical conductivity value falling between that of a conductor, such as metallic copper, and an insulator, such as glass.

Scanning electron microscope

A scanning electron microscope (SEM) is a type of electron microscope that produces images of a sample by scanning the surface with a focused beam of electrons.

Silicon on insulator

Silicon on insulator (SOI) technology is fabrication of silicon semiconductor devices in a layered silicon–insulator–silicon substrate, to reduce parasitic capacitance within the device, thereby improving performance.

Single-crystal

A single-crystal, or monocrystalline, solid is a material in which the crystal lattice of the entire sample is continuous and unbroken to the edges of the sample, with no grain boundaries.

Spectroscopy

Spectroscopy is the study of the interaction between matter and electromagnetic radiation (via electron spectroscopy, atomic spectroscopy, etc).

Subtomogram Averaging

Subtomogram averaging can obtain structures that are present in multiple copies in one or multiple tomograms with high resolution (even ≤1 nm)

Subwavelength imaging

Subwavelength imaging is defined as optical microscopy with the ability to see details of an object or organism below the wavelength of visible light. In other words, to have the capability to observe, in real time, below 200 nanometers.

Super-resolution imaging

Super-resolution imaging (SR) is a class of optical techniques that improves the resolution of an imaging system, allowing sub-diffraction limited imaging.

T

Template Matching

Template matching is a technique in digital image processing for finding small parts of an image which match a previously recorded template image. 

Thin-film solar cell

A thin-film solar cell is a second generation solar cell that is made by depositing one or more thin layers, or thin film (TF) of photovoltaic material on a substrate, such as glass, plastic or metal.

Thin section

In optical mineralogy and petrography, a thin section (or petrographic thin section) is a laboratory preparation of a rock, mineral, soil, pottery, bones, or even metal sample for use with a polarizing petrographic microscope, electron microscope and electron microprobe. In life sciences, a thin section refers to a thin slice of a sample that has undergone various processing steps and is embedded in resin

Tilt series

Tilt series is a series of 2D images that are captured with a transmission electron microscope (TEM) and can be used to computationally reconstruct a three-dimensional view of the object of interest.

Time-correlated single photon counting

Time-correlated single photon counting (TCSPC) is used to analyze the relaxation of molecules from an excited state to a lower energy state. This technique analyzes the time difference between the excitation of the sample molecule and the release of energy as another photon.

Tomogram

A two-dimensional image produced by tomography, representing a slice or section through a three-dimensional object

Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM)

Transmission electron microscopy is a technique in which a beam of electrons is transmitted through a specimen to form an image. The specimen is most often an ultrathin section less than 300 nm thick or a suspension on a grid.

Type 1 diabetes

Type 1 diabetes (T1D), also known as juvenile diabetes, is a form of diabetes in which very little or no insulin is produced by the pancreas.

V

Virology

Virology is the study of viral – submicroscopic, parasitic particles of genetic material contained in a protein coat – and virus-like agents.

Vitrification

Vitrification is the transformation of a substance into a glass,[1] that is to say, a non-crystalline amorphous solid. 

Z

Zircon

Zircon is a mineral belonging to the group of nesosilicates.

 

*Retrieved  from Wikipedia.